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Better Late Than Never (episode)
Better Late Than Never is the fifteenth episode of the second season and the fourty-first episode of the series. It aired in the US on the Shining Time Station episodes, Promises, Promises and Mr. Conductor's Big Sleepwalk. In this episode, Thomas was held up by repairs on the viaduct and Bertie gives him a hard time, until he breaks down. Plot Work has become hard for the engines on the Island of Sodor. The viaduct on the main line was being repaired, with the arches being strengthened. As the Fat Controller was unwilling to close the railway during repairs, the work is taking a long time and all engines crossing the viaduct must cross slowly and carefully, lest they risk it collapsing under them. Because of this, the engines are often late making it to the junction where Thomas waits for his passengers. Thomas complains that the engines are just going slowly to make him late; one morning he grumbles at Henry for his lateness. Henry defends himself by telling Thomas that he can't go any quicker during the repair work, but Thomas isn't interested and leaves to try and make up for lost time. Normally when Thomas stops at the station, Bertie arrives soon after and his passengers go straight from him to Thomas. However, when the larger engines are late for Thomas, then Thomas was late for Bertie's passengers and now they often find themselves waiting on the platform, causing Bertie to become angry with Thomas. When Thomas arrives that day, Bertie tells Thomas that he thought he could go faster than that. He then remarks they should have another race, thinking he could now beat him causing an exhausted Thomas to become angry and place the blame on the main line engines "dithering" on the viaduct. Another day, James arrives later than ever. He apologises, a hold-up at the station combined with the delay at the viaduct causing his lateness. Thomas, as usual, isn't interested in excuses and leaves grumbling. He attempts to get to the station as fast as he can, but doesn't make up very much time. However things change when Thomas spots Bertie at the level crossing, where his radiator is steaming. Thomas tells Bertie he is late, but Bertie tells Thomas that he feels dreadful and his driver can't repair him. It's lucky that Thomas was running so late, as he can now pick up the passengers here instead of having them be stranded. Thomas doesn't feel angry anymore and was sorry for Bertie. Promising to send help at the next station, Thomas leaves and takes the passengers home. When Bertie was repaired, he and Thomas make up their argument and both agree that sometimes being late can actually be quite useful. Characters *Thomas *Henry *James *Bertie *Annie and Clarabel (do not speak) *Edward (cameo) *Trevor (cameo) *Sir Topham Hatt (mentioned) Locations *Cronk Viaduct *Elsbridge *Tidmouth *Hackenbeck Tunnel Notes *This episode was based on the story of the same name from The Railway Series book, More About Thomas the Tank Engine. *Stock footage from Thomas' Train, Thomas and the Guard, and Thomas and Bertie is used, as is a deleted scene from Thomas and Trevor. *The final scenes of this episode may have been filmed alongside Bertie's Chase as Thomas and Bertie are in the same positions at Tidmouth as they were in that episode. Also, Bertie's eyes are in the same position as they were in that episode as well. *In the US, this episode aired before Saved from Scrap, so the audience don't know who Trevor is. *For the remainder of the second season, the viaduct's always seen undergoing repairs. *Christopher Awdry's credit for the episode was originally shown when the episode was compiled with Break Van, later versions throughout the 1990s (most notably on VHS and Cartoon Network) used the end credits from Duck Takes Charge. When a future release came out, Christopher has given credit for the episode. *When the episode aired in the Shining Time Station episode, Mr. Conductor's Big Sleepwalk, the ending was cut short when Bertie left. *The Italian title of this episode was "Delays". In Japan, this episode was called "It's late Behind is not Bad or It's late and also Not Bad". Errors *Edward has Thomas' whistle sound at the very beginning. *Thomas has to wait for James at the junction; James was supposedly bringing Thomas' passengers, but he was pulling vans. *In many scenes, Clarabel was facing the wrong way. *The scenes where Thomas takes the passengers home and Bertie coming to thank Thomas are both unrestored for unknown reasons. *Bertie's face was loose when he says "Late again!" and is clearly being held in posistion by blu-tak. *Some sources mislabel this episode as "Better Late than Ever". *Thomas' eyes are wonky when he says "Time's time!". US Home Video Releases *Thomas and His Friends Get Along and Other Thomas Adventures Transcript *'Narrator: '''Thomas grew crosser and crosser. ''starts zooming out *'Thomas: '''Time's time! *'Narrator: He grumbled. *'''Thomas: Why should I keep my passengers waiting, while Henry and James dawdle about all day on viaducts? ''stops zooming out '' Gallery BetterLateThanNeverrestoredtitlecard.png|Restored title card BetterLateThanNever1991NewZealandtitlecard.jpg|1991 New Zealand title card BetterLateThanNeverUStitlecard.png|1998 US title card BetterLatethanNeverUSTitleCard2.png|2002 US title card BetterLatethanNeverSlovenianTitleCard.png|Slovenian title card BetterLateThanNeverSpanishTitleCard.jpg|Spanish title card BetterLateThanNeverKoreantitlecard.PNG|Korean title card BetterLateThanNeverGermantitlecard.jpg|German title card BetterLateThanNeverUkrainiantitlecard.jpg|Ukrainian title card BetterLateThanNeverFinnishtitlecard.png|Finnish title card Thomas'Train35.png|Stock footage|link=Thomas' Train ThomasandtheGuard15.png|Stock footage|link=Thomas and the Guard ThomasandtheGuard16.png|Stock footage|link=Thomas and the Guard ThomasandBertie52.png|Stock footage|link=Thomas and Bertie BetterLatethanNever.PNG BetterLatethanNever1.jpg|Stock footage|link=Thomas and Trevor BetterLatethanNever1.png BetterLatethanNever2.png|Thomas BetterLatethanNever3.png|Henry BetterLatethanNever4.png|Bertie's face was loose error BetterLatethanNever5.png|Thomas and Bertie BetterLatethanNever6.png BetterLatethanNever7.png|James and Thomas BetterLatethanNever8.png|James BetterLatethanNever9.png BetterLatethanNever10.png BetterLatethanNever11.png BetterLatethanNever12.png BetterLatethanNever13.png BetterLatethanNever14.png BetterLatethanNever15.png BetterLatethanNever16.png BetterLatethanNever17.png|Stock footage|link=Bertie's Chase BetterLatethanNever18.png BetterLatethanNever19.png BetterLatethanNever20.png BetterLatethanNever21.png BetterLatethanNever22.png|Thomas and Henry BetterLatethanNever23.png BetterLatethanNever24.png BetterLatethanNever25.png BetterLatethanNever26.png BetterLatethanNever27.png|Bertie BetterLatethanNever28.png BetterLatethanNever29.png BetterLateThanNever30.jpg BetterLatethanNever31.png BetterLatethanNever32.png BetterLatethanNever33.png BetterLatethanNever34.png BetterLatethanNever35.png BetterLatethanNever36.png BetterLatethanNever37.png BetterLatethanNever38.png BetterLatethanNever39.png BetterLatethanNever40.png BetterLatethanNever41.png BetterLatethanNever42.png BetterLatethanNever43.png BetterLatethanNever44.png BetterLatethanNever45.png BetterLatethanNever46.png BetterLatethanNever47.png Category:Episodes Category:Season 2 episodes Category:Thomas and Friends episodes Category:1986 television episodes Category:1980s television episodes Category:Films, TV Shows And Wildlife Wiki Category:Double Trouble And Other Thomas Stories (1992, US) Category:Double Trouble And Other Thomas Stories (February 27, 1992) Full Category:Thomas And His Friends On The Go (2003, US) Category:Thomas And His Friends On The Go (April 15, 2003) Full Category:Thomas And His Friends Ride Along (2004, US) Category:Thomas And His Friends Ride Along (April 27, 2004) Full